Champions Cup Final - Leinster v Racing

[curates_egg]

I hope the Blue Army in Bilbao gorge on Pintxos and Glory.

I've still got indigestion.

[Mackeroo]

Although we did have to put with with event junkies who were just there for the free booze which meant we have vomiting incidents behind and in front of us in the course of the match.

Sounds lovely.

[TerenureJim]

Lovell rugby have a great offer on a champions cup jersey at the moment

https://www.lovell-rugby.co.uk/Rugby-Sh ... Shirt-Blue

If they'd had the sense to put the 4th star on it they might have got some takers

Or to put it on the European jersey?

[olaf the fat]

EDIT: As an aside, the attendance was announced as 52,000 but there definitely wasn't that many at the game. Seemed to be loads of empty seats. There were at least 10 blocks of the corporate level with nobody in them, and the first 8 or 10 rows in Block 110 were empty also.

There was a load of seats empty around the halfway line because Racing didn't use them and the organisers decided to give them to the sponsors instead of selling them. Some nice gentleman I didn't know gave me six of these tickets so me and five of my mates got an upgrade from our shitty seats behind the goal to prime seats on halfway. Although we did have to put with with event junkies who were just there for the free booze which meant we have vomiting incidents behind and in front of us in the course of the match.

Hi Donny,

That was just the Munster day trippers choking on our 4 stars.

What did you think of the game in general? first feeling here of it being a poor game are changing to appreciate what a technical battle it was. Its nice when our tactics cut through a team and are rewarded with highlight reel style trys - much more interesting when they dont, but we still find a way to overcome.

[Delmarodonnell]

Great win and was really impressed by the stadium and city (even with the awful weather).

At least 30,000 of that stadium were Basque/Spanish and was astonishing to see probably 90% of them wearing Leinster or Ireland related gear. We were sat beside a man in a Munster jersey, a native of Bilbao, who has lived in Limerick for 10 years. He explained the Basque would always support the Irish over the French, for the obvious reasons. The locals seemed to be very annoyed that the city had raised hotel prices for the game, as none of the bars/restaurants did at all (in fact, even 2 mins from the stadium, food and drink was still very cheap). I was filled with a great sense of schadenfraude to hear that the Bilbao Hotel Association had admitted they got their pricing structure wrong. I'd say they had about 80% of rooms cancelled in the run up to it!

Rugby itself seemed a bigger deal over there, then I expected. We stayed in San Sebastian for the few days and was great to see the amount of locals who would come up to you in a bar to chat about it or tell you they played rugby or just congratulate Leinster on the win. A fabulous part of the world to have it and it was a real carnival atmosphere on the day. Of course, there was quite a few there who were there for the day out. 5 minutes in and a bunch of 15 fellas (block 310) started to try and get a Mexican wave going, and again with a few minutes to go. But they had no luck and were the exception to the rule!

Great weekend

[mildlyinterested]

the satisfaction of a leinster pack, plus two imports, going toe to toe with a monster french pack and coming out ahead.. well it's pretty god damn satisfying.

[Oldschool]

the satisfaction of a leinster pack, plus two imports, going toe to toe with a monster french pack and coming out ahead.. well it's pretty god damn satisfying.

The pack weighs, from memory, displayed on the box were 896 v 856 in Leinster's favour.
It didn't look like that, in the flesh.
Did (why would?) Racing dickie down the weights of their players?
It would be small by french standards too!

[neiliog93]

the satisfaction of a leinster pack, plus two imports, going toe to toe with a monster french pack and coming out ahead.. well it's pretty god damn satisfying.

The pack weighs, from memory, displayed on the box were 896 v 856 in Leinster's favour.
It didn't look like that, in the flesh.
Did (why would?) Racing dickie down the weights of their players?
It would be small by french standards too!

Interestingly, the notoriously tough French packs of 2003-2011ish were almost always the lightest in the 6 Nations, along with Italy (also very tough). Size isn't everything. But the French clubs, with their raft of Polynesian and South African imports, are certainly usually very heavy.

[Xanthippe]

Lovell rugby have a great offer on a champions cup jersey at the moment

https://www.lovell-rugby.co.uk/Rugby-Sh ... Shirt-Blue

If they'd had the sense to put the 4th star on it they might have got some takers

Or to put it on the European jersey?

Hadn't noticed that bit

[Lar]

Sexton's explanation for the tap penalty:
https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/sta ... 1813946371
He thought Racing were not back 10, so was looking to get a better penalty position I guess.
A plausible explanation for what looked like a dreadful decision.
Doesn't' explain taking on 55 metre kicks.

I don’t ever recall seeing a ref call that. If the ref thinks you’re not back 10 he tells you.

They should never let a quick penalty go in that circumstance, they make you retreat if the team wants the space. Sexton is competitive but that was hot blooded.

I can't recall the opposition but that is precisely what happened in the RDS earlier this season when Jordi if I recall correctly was pinged and yellow carded for not retreating ten yards when the opposition took a quick tap when the penalty was given about about 9 metres from the try line. Even the commentators said it was harsh to card him as if he hadn't made the tackle the effect of the rule would be to allow the attacker to run in unopposed.

[blockhead]

Do Leinster get any prize money for winning the Heino?

Sorry, found this in the Examiner;

The prize fund for the latter stages of the Champions Cup doesn’t exactly equate to a pot of gold but the defeats of Toulon in Thomond Park and Saracens in the Aviva Stadium still mean that the Irish union will receive two cheques worth €300,000 in the post from organisers EPCR.

Winning the tournament outright would bring with it another reward of €600,000 to the IRFU while a losing finalist would deliver the consolation €400,000

So then no, we get nothing,
The IRFU get E1.2M, and I'd imagine it will spent elsewhere.

[the spoofer]

Leinster will receive win bonuses from their sponsors.

The 2012 win was supposed to be worth €1m to Leinster.

[Dave Cahill]

We get to sell the win though - which is probably more valuable. Bonus payments from our sponsors, able to negotiate better deals with new sponsors, new merchandise with four stars on it and all sorts. The prize money is only a small part. A former branch president told me that in cash terms, the Magners League was more lucrative than the HEC, but you can't really sell a league win the way you can a European cup victory

[TrapperChamonix]

the satisfaction of a leinster pack, plus two imports, going toe to toe with a monster french pack and coming out ahead.. well it's pretty god damn satisfying.

The pack weighs, from memory, displayed on the box were 896 v 856 in Leinster's favour.
It didn't look like that, in the flesh.
Did (why would?) Racing dickie down the weights of their players?
It would be small by french standards too!

Interestingly, the notoriously tough French packs of 2003-2011ish were almost always the lightest in the 6 Nations, along with Italy (also very tough). Size isn't everything. But the French clubs, with their raft of Polynesian and South African imports, are certainly usually very heavy.

IIRC the program had all of the Racing back row listed as under 100kgs. So they are definitely watering down their stats.

However the wider point is justified in that we (Irish fans and media) keep talking about monstrous sized players from other teams and ignore the size of our own. Furlong, Fardy, Toner, Leavy, Sexton, Henshaw, are all big me for their position. I even remember Donal Lenihan compalining about the size of another teams pack when Munster had Tony Buckley in theirs.

[wixfjord]

Leinster is the IRFU.

I'd imagine the branch and Adidas are delighted with the win. If the merch released in June isn't awful it should sell like hot cakes, ditto the new jerseys.

[blockhead]

Leinster is the IRFU.

I'd imagine the branch and Adidas are delighted with the win. If the merch released in June isn't awful it should sell like hot cakes, ditto the new jerseys.

Yes, I know that.
But do we get rewarded for our efforts and success or is the money put in the central fund?

[Scooby Shaggy Swerve]

Excuse my ignorance but who were the lads in blazers who came up to Leinster fans to celebrate just after the final whistle (the corner below sections 310 - 312) ?

[Lar]

Can I just clarify something? Leinster winning the ERC means the IRFU get €600,000 is because Leinster is a constituent part of the IRFU, right?

This does not mean that when Saracens won last season their prize money went to the RFU?

[blockhead]

Can I just clarify something? Leinster winning the ERC means the IRFU get €600,000 is because Leinster is a constituent part of the IRFU, right?

This does not mean that when Saracens won last season their prize money went to the RFU?

You are a hoot Lar.

[neiliog93]

So essentially Leinster's knockout success got the IRFU €1.2 million in prize money alone. You would imagine at least a proportion of that gets passed on to Leinster, surely?